Original Date: 03/06/2006
Revision Date: / /

Raytheon Principles for Manufacturing uses the best practices from lean, Raytheon Six Sigma™, and the Manufacturing Excellence Model to facilitate significant productivity improvement. This system is unique to the Raytheon-Louisville facility. Implementation of the Raytheon Principles of Manufacturing has resulted in significant cost and schedule savings.

The primary goal of the Raytheon Principles for Manufacturing (RPM) is to use the best practices from Raytheon Six Sigma™ (R6σ), which includes lean manufacturing and the Manufacturing Excellence Model (MEM), to drive significant productivity improvement. RPM and lean focus on getting the right things to the right place at the right time and in the right quantity while minimizing waste, being flexible, and being open to change. The RPM system is unique to the Raytheon Missile Systems division and consists of 45 process steps, each step consisting of additional substeps. The steps complement the R6σ™ methodology.

Prior to RPM, continuous improvements were driven by individual R6σ™ projects, with gains localized to individual areas and more process consistency needed across the facility. At Raytheon-Louisville, RPM is an important process to identify non-value-added processes in order to minimize the waste and inefficiency involved in the manufacturing process.

By implementing RPM, manufacturing at Raytheon-Louisville has streamlined its operation. Waste has been eliminated from the complete manufacturing cycle, allowing a 20% reduction in cycle time and a 10% increase in efficiency. These gains were realized through the creation of an agile factory layout and the implementation of pull manufacturing. Another tool used is value stream mapping (VSM), which is an effective way of identifying a plant’s value-added processes. RPM has become the engine that is driving the road to a lean enterprise by allowing Raytheon’s Louisville facility to visually display its production system and to provide a structured implementation of lean manufacturing. The facility’s MEM score has improved from 1.9 to 3.9 out of a total possible score of 5.

The implementation of RPM has enabled an unbiased assessment of Raytheon Missile Systems’ Louisville facility. Management support, acceptance of the RPM tool and processes, and Integrated Product Team (IPT) involvement have played an important role in the overall success of implementing RPM.

RPM has created formidable culture changes that employees refer to as both enjoyable and rewarding. Floor operators describe the RPM process as making their work much easier. Team and individual awards in the form of cash prizes have been given to employees as an expression of appreciation to keep employees motivated. One notable area that has received an award is the Machine Shop, where efficiency averages exceeded 100% (Figure 2- 10). The Test Team decreased actual test time on a Phalanx mount by 26%.

Raytheon-Louisville is considered a leader in the company’s Missile Systems division. The facility operates under the continuous improvement process by learning from industry leaders such as Toyota, implementing lean manufacturing principles, adhering to Six Sigma processes, and following the facility’s 45-step process of RPM.

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